Provo MSA Development Thread

[I-15]

Buffalo Wild Wings will also be going in front of the Ashley Furniture/Old RC Willey.

[delts145]

Looks like we have some exciting times coming up for Orem. Finally, Orem seems to be realizing State Streets potential.

Orem's economic development is back at pre-recession levels

Genelle Pugmire DAILY HERALD

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/ce...5239fa1-24dc-524b-a2e0-644b1971c06d.html

OREM -- Economic development in the city is coming along nicely, but when the State Street Master Plan is ready, city leaders are saying watch out.

“We’re going to see things pick up when the State Street Master Plan is completed,” said Ryan Clark, Orem's economic development manager. “We’re also seeing the effects of the catalyst of University Place.”

Steve Downs, city spokesman, said he hopes the State Street Master Plan will be adopted no later than July. Before then, residents will have at least two more chances to attend an open house on the plan and share their thoughts and ideas.

A State Street Master Plan open house is scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on April 2 at the SCERA Center for the Arts at 725 S. State St. Another open house will be held in June.

“Picture such a change from the State Street you see now,” Downs said.

Many developers aren’t waiting on State Street. There are a number of housing and business build-outs going on right now.

According to Clark, there are 885 units under construction, and many other developers have submitted site plans.

Two large projects are causing a lot of interest. They include the Wasatch project on Center Street, featuring townhomes and stacked apartments with two retail spaces right off Interstate 15, and the Parkway Lofts, featuring 332 apartments near the Utah Transit Authority intermodal hub on the west side of I-15 near Wolverine Crossing.

“Everything that dropped dead during the recession is back,” Clark said.

There is a 38,000-square-foot office building being built by an alarm security company at 450 North and 1500 West in the Bunker Business Park. The company is new to Orem and will offer several good-paying jobs.

Great Western Supply Store is also constructing its first location in Utah County, a 43,000-square-foot building in the business park.

“This shows the strength of our industrial growth,” Downs said.

“Orem can have a place for all sizes of companies -- for ones that are here and ones that are finding a place to grow here in Orem. Smith’s (at Center Street and State Street) will be doing a $4 million remodel in August.”

To help entice other businesses to Orem, the city has developed a video entitled “Your Place to Grow” that features several businesses in the area. The city's economic development department is designing new marketing materials, and the city is freshening up its branding.

For those who like the Corner Bakery establishments in Salt Lake City, get ready. One is opening on the last restaurant pad in front of Target and across from Taco Bell in the parking lot at Center Street and Orem Boulevard.

Outback Restaurant recently opened its new standalone restaurant in the parking lot at the University Crossings Plaza. That clears the path for Nordstrom Rack to begin its build-out in the plaza. The Mattress Firm has also opened its new store in the same plaza location.

RC Willey will open at University Place in April, making way for its old building at University Parkway and Main Street to transition into an Ashley Furniture store.

Construction will also be completed in the next couple of months on the new triple threat of Starbucks, Chipotle, and Potbelly Sandwich Shop in the south parking lot of University Place.

Clark said there is also going to be a lot of opportunity for retail on the west side of the city, including the building of Class A offices along I-15.

[Future Mayor]

I really would like to see State Street in Orem start to go vertical, just as with any other built out city, in order to grow they are are going to have to start doing just that. Cities and developers can only reface and rebuild existing strip malls so many times before they need to be completely re-imagined. If State does start to go vertical, I may have to stop referring to it as America's longest strip mall.

[i-215]

Not yet. We tried that once and it still isn't going well.

There's only so much appetite for high-rise commercial and residential in Orem. Let's first let University Place succeed, then focus expanding outward within a walkable distance.

Haphazardly "building up" will damage U.P.'s potential for success, lead to parking-structure-serviced high rises that will increase car traffic along an already busy road. Let's wait until the BRT to finish, UP to build out phases 2 & 3, and maybe even get TRAX Lehi-Orem funded before we start talking building "up" in Orem.

[bob rulz]

Why wait for all of that first? Build up and the rest will come, not the other way around, if you ask me.

[i-215]

Because today's development would require 1.25 parking spaces per bedroom, simply to make it commercially viable. That permanently shapes the development to be auto-centric (everyone brings their car to a multi-level parking structure on site). And the worst kind of development, no less, because it generates a TON of traffic from single, densely-space points, which makes the VMT really awful nearby.

Density doesn't automatically make something "transit friendly" or "walkable." A reduction in parking does. But a parking reduction isn't possible until robust transit is available a few footsteps from your front door.

Lets focus on really beefing up density within walking distance of existing (or soon-to-be-built) transit systems, rather than having skyscraper sprawl that's served by cars (looking at you, Sandy!)

[delts145]

I-215, Excellent point. That was one of the biggest mistakes L.A. made in the recent past. It has taken some major effort and dollars to moderate the problem. Some improvement has been made, but at a cost that has been far more expensive than if they had followed a more logical approach. I think the evolutionary path you suggest is more sensible and less costly to the tax payer. For those of us who are indeed anxious, I think that the State Street plan combined with University Place and expected hyper growth of Utah Valley will speed things along very quickly anyway.

[bob rulz]

I think the BRT line they're planning on adding will certainly speed that along.

My point is that I don't think we should wait 20 years for the ~possibility~ that they could get TRAX. The problem with Sandy was not that they built it, it's that they built it wrong.

Walkability and transit go hand-in-hand. Yes, walkability is helped by transit, but transit makes little impact if a place isn't walkable. I'm not saying Orem should suddenly start building high-rise condos everywhere, but there's no need to wait for TRAX for SOME density to be added.

[zach_hawkins55]

Originally Posted by I-15

Buffalo Wild Wings will also be going in front of the Ashley Furniture/Old RC Willey.

Where are you getting that information? It would be fantastic if a BWW were to come to Orem, but I don't want to get my hopes up

[LeVaJe]

The Mountainland TransPlan40 has been updated and is open for comments.

[JMK]

There is a video buzzing on the internet for a 'virtual entertainment center' that is supposed to come to Pleasant Grove

• Video Link

A Utah company plans to open a series of "virtual entertainment centers" for cutting-edge virtual reality game-playing.

The VOID, based in Lindon, announced Tuesday plans to open the first "virtual entertainment center," or VEC, sometime in early 2016 in a facility in Pleasant Grove.

The company will use proprietary hardware and software to "allow guests to truly live virtually any adventure," said James Jenson, The VOID's co-founder and chief technological officer, in a statement.

Added Ken Bretschneider, the company's CEO and other co-founder, "we are fulfilling a promise of what a virtual reality experience can and should be. Until now, we have only seen experiences like The VOID portrayed in science fiction films and novels."

http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/cricket/2479636-155/the-void-virtual-entertainment-center-to

[UrbanDesign]

I will definitely have to check that out when it's open in 2016!

That's pretty awesome that Ken is involved as well. Maybe a floor of the AUC will house this 4D experience! Bringing it to SL County as their second location.

[jtrent77]

Originally Posted by JMK

There is a video buzzing on the internet for a 'virtual entertainment center' that is supposed to come to Pleasant Grove

• Video Link



http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/cricket/2479636-155/the-void-virtual-entertainment-center-to

http://fox13now.com/2015/05/06/evermore-...ge-virtual-entertainment-coming-to-utah/

Looks impressive, although it sounds like Evermore is on the back burner for now. Hopefully it comes off the back burner at some point, but got to admit that it makes me feel a little concerned that Evermore could be another knee boarding lake with building designed by Gehry at the point of the mountain in Lehi.

As far as The Void, let's hope that if it does get built that it becomes more than a short lived fad and that they can constantly change things up to keep it interesting.

[TonyAnderson]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

How can Lehi sprawl when they are in the center of everything? Salt Lake City 40-ish miles north, Provo 40-ish miles south. I15, Frontrunner and future Trax all within a mile of each other. Besides the office park at Thankgiving point I have been impressed with most of the development taking place in that area. I love the Adobe campus. TSTAT Buildings look like it will be great. Love the height of the soon to be UCCU building.

So what you're saying is Lehi the epicenter of sprawl?

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

How can Lehi sprawl when they are in the center of everything? Salt Lake City 40-ish miles north, Provo 40-ish miles south. I15, Frontrunner and future Trax all within a mile of each other. Besides the office park at Thankgiving point I have been impressed with most of the development taking place in that area. I love the Adobe campus. TSTAT Buildings look like it will be great. Love the height of the soon to be UCCU building.

40 miles?? SLC is 28 miles north of Lehi and Provo is less than 17 miles south.

You're thinking of SLC, which is in the center of everything, 40-ish miles between Ogden and Provo.

[Jumpur]

So I haven't posted in, what, 5 years? But have always been a lurker. Just figured I would finally say something because I have information that it seems no one else does.

My family, on the side of other careers, also builds and sells houses every now and then and currently are working on a project in Pleasant Grove. When we went into the city office to submit our plans for the subdivision, I asked them about Evermore and if there was any recent progress. Apparently (and I didn't know that this went on anyway as I was out of state for a few months), the owners held a test Halloween event last Fall on their property in PG. Anyone know anything about that? The lady at the office said they held the event, it was enormously popular, and it became apparent to the owners even more so that the 40 something acres they own won't be large enough for the theme park and, mainly, its parking lot. They are now in the process of finding new land elsewhere and will, I guess, sell the land in PG. From what she said, the project will still happen, it just won't be in Pleasant Grove anymore. Hopefully we'll hear more news about the relocation soon.

[Wasatch_One]

Originally Posted by Jumpur

So I haven't posted in, what, 5 years? But have always been a lurker. Just figured I would finally say something because I have information that it seems no one else does.

My family, on the side of other careers, also builds and sells houses every now and then and currently are working on a project in Pleasant Grove. When we went into the city office to submit our plans for the subdivision, I asked them about Evermore and if there was any recent progress. Apparently (and I didn't know that this went on anyway as I was out of state for a few months), the owners held a test Halloween event last Fall on their property in PG. Anyone know anything about that? The lady at the office said they held the event, it was enormously popular, and it became apparent to the owners even more so that the 40 something acres they own won't be large enough for the theme park and, mainly, its parking lot. They are now in the process of finding new land elsewhere and will, I guess, sell the land in PG. From what she said, the project will still happen, it just won't be in Pleasant Grove anymore. Hopefully we'll hear more news about the relocation soon.

I drive by the area frequently and noticed recently that 40 acres are up for sale where they wanted to build Evermore...

[DCRes]

I bet if someone were to PM Ken and ask for an update on Evermore he would be willing to let us know what the latest is. He has been very upfront about the progress of AUC in Salt Lake.

[JMK]

Demolition begins at Mervyns in Orem

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=34618460

Tuesday, construction crews began to tear down the old Mervyns store as part of the redevelopment of University Mall, later to be renamed University Place to represent the project's goal of becoming the new city center of Orem.

"Sometimes you have to tear things down to make them better," said Rob Kallas, the mall's manager, as part of a small ceremony.

Members of the large crowd at the event included city officials, city royalty, mall employees on break, families with their children, and mall patrons who once shopped at the former chain store.

"I am excited by the turnout. I think the crowd enjoys the destruction because it is something they can visualize, and it's better than shovels," Kallas said later regarding the ceremony.

Several people lounged on lawn chairs, blankets and cars in the blustering wind as they ate their lunches and listened to the remarks given prior the destruction.

"So the wind is blowing, and Mervyns is blowing away, and a new chapter is coming forth," Orem Mayor Richard Brunst said.

Brunst continued his remarks by highlighting the amenities that will be replacing the building, which hosted Mervyns for about 30 years. The mayor mainly focused on the new park that will be "unlike anything you have seen before," he said.

Plans for the park include a large lawn with several water features, seating areas, a large screen to project movies, and a stage for events. There will also be a drop-off zone for vehicles and an area for food trucks to park.

[LeVaJe]

The latest on Evermore Park can be found on their Facebook page. Evermore Park is delayed until a new location is acquired. In the meantime, they are working on The Void, as seen above.